scholarly journals Specify Collections Consortium–Building Durable Infrastructure

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e26860
Author(s):  
James Beach
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Technical Support ◽  
Software Project ◽  
University Of Kansas ◽  
Advisory Committees ◽  
Software Products ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
The University ◽  
The U.S

The Specify Software Project (www.specifysoftware.org) has been funded by the University of Kansas and with grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation for 20 years. In 2018, the effort is pivoting from a grant-funded project to a community-supported effort through the establishment of a consortium of biological collection institutions. Specify Collection Consortium software products will remain open source and free to download and use. Consortium membership benefits will include access to technical support services and seats on the Board of Directors and advisory committees, groups that will determine priorities for future products, platform capabilities, and technical support services. In 2017 and 2018, we have been engaged in organizational planning and development–modeling the Specify Collections Consortium on examples of viable open source and open access consortia in other research communities. Founding members of the Consortium in the U.S. include the University of Michigan, University of Florida, and University of Kansas. The Consortium's mission will be to support collections institutions in mobilizing data from their holdings to broader biological and computational initiatives to advance collections-based research, while facilitating efficient data curation and collection management. We will provide an update on our progress with the Consortium's development and highlight new capabilities and integration features of the Specify 6 & 7 software platforms.

Board of Director Characteristics, Institutional Ownership, and Fraud: Evidence from Australia

2004 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vineeta D. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Research Evidence ◽  
Institutional Ownership ◽  
Board Of Director ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Director Characteristics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

Due to the high incidence of fraud in Australia, regulatory reports suggest strengthening the monitoring role of the board of directors (BOD). These reports recommend greater independence and no duality (chairperson of the BOD should not be the CEO) on the BOD. While there is no Australian evidence, research evidence in the U.S. supports these suggested reforms. It is not clear whether the research evidence observed in the U.S. will generalize to the Australian setting because of contextual differences. This study extends the U.S. findings to the Australian context and investigates the relationship between two attributes of the BOD, independence and duality, and fraud. In addition, I examine whether institutional ownership plays a role in the context of fraud. The more highly concentrated institutional ownership in Australia suggests the presence of some relationship. Using a matched sample of fraud and no-fraud firms from 1988–2000, I find that as the percentage of independent directors and the percentage of independent institutional ownership increases, the likelihood of fraud decreases. As expected, the results show a positive relationship between duality and the likelihood of fraud. These results support the call for strengthening the composition and structure of the BOD in Australia.

scholarly journals Evaluating the success of the tele-pathology system in governmental hospitals in Kuwait: an explanatory sequential mixed methods design

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Jasem Buabbas ◽  
Tareq Mohammad ◽  
Adel K. Ayed ◽  
Hawraa Mallah ◽  
Hamza Al-Shawaf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Support Services ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Technical Support ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
System Quality ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
Telepathology System

Abstract Background Telepathology is the practice of reviewing and exchanging pathological images through telecommunication systems to obtain diagnoses remotely. Studying the factors that make such a system successful and favourable is important to ensure the merits of its implementation in clinical practice. Objective This study aims to evaluate the success of a telepathology system from the users’ perspectives, using specific evaluation criteria, namely: system quality, information quality, technical service quality, user satisfaction, and benefits. Methods A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was adopted in this study, which consists of two phases. Initially, a questionnaire was distributed via WhatsApp to all of the pathologists (total: 45) working at governmental hospitals in Kuwait. Followed by, semi-structured interviews with ten senior pathologists. Results Forty pathologists responded to the questionnaire, giving an 89% response rate. There were 42.5% of the respondents aged between 35–44 years old, and 52.5% were male. The quantitative results reveal that most of the respondents were satisfied with the quality of the telepathology system with a mean of 2.6025 (Standard Deviation (SD) = 0.47176), whereas they were dissatisfied with the quality of the information with a mean of 2.4100 (SD = 1.580) and the technical support services with a mean of 2.2750 (SD = 0.99535). In addition, there was disagreement on the benefits of telepathology in clinical practice among the pathologists with a mean of 2.4667 (SD = 0.77552). The qualitative results indicate that the lack of interest in and little experience with using the system were behind the general dissatisfaction of most of the respondents. All of the interviewees were satisfied with the performance of the telepathology system and considered it successful; however, the quality of the technical support services, including training workshops, was deemed deficient. Conclusion This study concluded that telepathology system in Kuwait is functioning well and has been successful in its implementation; however, pathologists are dissatisfied with it, mainly due to the deficient quality of the technical support services provided. In addition, the successful implementation of such advanced technologies requires careful steps to be taken on multiple levels: technical, organisational, and managerial. Recommendations were suggested.

With Plenty of Elbow Room: Planning New and Upgraded Spaces for Library and Archives Conservation and Audiovisual Preservation

Collections ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 155019062098784
Author(s):  
Whitney Baker
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
University Of Kansas ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Student Employees ◽  
The University ◽  
Film And Video

In 2018, the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries upgraded from a tired, twenty-year-old basement space to a new, purpose-built conservation lab for library and archives collections. The new conservation lab, which is housed in the special collections and archives library, quadrupled available lab space for its conservators and fleet of student employees. The move afforded Conservation space in the same library as the most vulnerable collection materials. In addition, rooms in the special collections and archives library were repurposed for audiovisual (AV) preservation, creating two new spaces for film and video workflows and upgrading an existing small audio room. This paper will discuss the conservation and preservation lab construction literature and will serve as a practical exemplar of the challenges and successes of the planning process, including lessons learned and unexpected benefits.

The University of Kansas Museum of Art

Art Journal ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-391
Author(s):  
Bret Waller
Keyword(s):  
University Of Kansas ◽  
The University
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